1. Nodding Disease.
2. Kaposi's Sarcoma
3. Bleeding Eye Fever
Wednesday, January 31, 2018
Tuesday, January 30, 2018
Saturday, January 27, 2018
Friday, January 26, 2018
Is it pigs with African Swine Fever?
"Strengthened surveillance in affected human and animal populations is needed to facilitate rapid detection of human and animal cases and response; strengthened capacity to clinically manage any new cases is also needed in the affected area."
Thursday, January 25, 2018
Incurable 'pig plague' that could wipe out pork industry is sweeping across EU towards UK
https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/909994/African-Swine-Fever-pig-plague-sweeps-across-EU-Europe-towards-Germany-UK
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3274504/
" . .. further study is needed to characterize their potential risks to both public health and agricultural development."
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11262-013-0878-2
http://vir.sgmjournals.org/content/34/3/455.short
More evidence that African Swine Fever is a human infection and connected to HHV-6?
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3274504/
A Child with Fever Tests Positive for African Swine Fever
https://watermark.silverchair.com/cis643.pdf?token=AQECAHi208BE49Ooan9kkhW_Ercy7Dm3ZL_9Cf3qfKAc485ysgAAAZ8wggGbBgkqhkiG9w0BBwagggGMMIIBiAIBADCCAYEGCSqGSIb3DQEHATAeBglghkgBZQMEAS4wEQQMG56_CXnkHcp6BMrHAgEQgIIBUgfYe7nH1zY3NnbjJ0AD17XkqxSxgnjlZIN6U8pUn7EPy9dLC2N81gRvypFUqjBTLPkl_ll9dXzt2O8DFa19XG_SRYzjkU8gJLn6HQCaArZg6ArxY6JbiwkSNXZ6JuwtYCa-48Qwb1B1Tyu8FbkkWzRbuuBKjz1vi5TXD-EZr2hlwowsrzwkho9uJq_aIMGjbf6eclf1MUGkqj8KDE0uQ_vw51nu5GOSXtEBAt4c6YwJ0ZRTN8VdGiS-7841esNVrYBdxRA3K2Cbc8Wqb4FYtjK1US_M2IGFdrR1P0T4FxoAqoFeun1uH32jWRJdcK2PCtRoTntRkQwC29YAY-S6_8B1-FPIIT3zXat75_o01uaBAnU34NKbVH2fVSy2kdTN-Sh8A-JAnH0wScWU2EuSHMuzPlw50TaQJHTgwYZAQCgR2KprjQQykmAy7Nm4WKhrLqlK
Why HHV-6 may be the human form of African Swine Fever Virus.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/14810348_The_identification_of_an_African_swine_fever_gene_with_conserved_helicase_motifs_and_a_striking_homology_to_herpes_virus_origin_binding_protein_UL9
Russian Scientist: ASF could become a human health risk
"The African swine fever (ASF) virus, may in the future become
dangerous for humans, according to the head of the Russian Epidemiology
Service, Chief State Sanitary Doctor Gennady Onishchenko, at the
press-conference in St. Petersburg. According to him almost all viruses
from time to time go through mutation processes which can give them some
additional functions."
http://www.pigprogress.net/Health-Diseases/Outbreaks/2013/7/ASF-could-become-a-human-health-risk-1308047W/
Background on African Swine Fever Virus as a human pathogen:
"African Swine fever is an endemic disease in sub-Saharan Africa and
many other parts of the developing world. It is caused by the African
Swine virus that primarily replicates in macrophages and monocytes
leading to the impairment of the structure and function of the immune
system of the infected organisms. Until now the African Swine epidemic
continues to spread despite all efforts to contain it. Thus, there is
an objective need for effective, safe and affordable preventive and
therapeutic approaches, in particular for effective vaccines, to
control and eventually eradicate this disease. Since the characteristic
feature of the African Swine virus is to impair the immune system and
to cause immune deficiencies in its hosts the development of vaccines
and other therapeutic approaches against the African Swine virus has
implications for other immune deficiencies or diseases. Several other
viruses are also known to cause immunodeficiency-like syndromes in
humans, including cytomegalovirus, Epstein Barr Virus
and others. Moreover, a series of cases of so-called "idiopathic"
immunodeficiencies have been documented that display
CD4+T-lymphocytopenia with opportunistic infections, but show no
evidence of HIV infection. Since antibodies for the African Swine virus
have been detected in humans, the possibility of human infection with
the African Swine virus exists and may thus far have escaped any systematic screening. Thus, any preventive and therapeutic approach to African Swine fever can have far-reaching implications to control immune deficiency conditions in humans."http://www.faqs.org/patents/app/20080207875
Detection of Novel Sequences Related to African Swine Fever Virus in Human Serum and Sewage.
Loh J, Zhao G, Presti RM, Holtz LR, Finkbeiner SR, Droit L, Villasana Z, Todd C, Pipas JM, Calgua B, Girones R, Wang D, Virgin HW.
Departments of Pathology & Immunology and Molecular Microbiology, Department of Medicine and Department of Pediatrics, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri; Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Biology, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
"The family Asfarviridae contains only a single virus species, African swine fever virus (ASFV). ASFV is a viral agent with significant economic impact due to its devastating effects on populations of domesticated pigs during outbreaks, but has not been reported to infect humans. We report here the discovery of novel viral sequences in human serum and sewage which are clearly related to the Asfarvirus family, but highly divergent from ASFV. Detection of these sequences suggests that greater genetic diversity may exist among Asfarviruses than previously thought, and raises the possibility that human infection by Asfarviruses may occur."
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19812170?dopt=AbstractDetection of Novel Sequences Related to African Swine Fever Virus in Human Serum and Sewage.
Loh J, Zhao G, Presti RM, Holtz LR, Finkbeiner SR, Droit L, Villasana Z, Todd C, Pipas JM, Calgua B, Girones R, Wang D, Virgin HW.
Departments of Pathology & Immunology and Molecular Microbiology, Department of Medicine and Department of Pediatrics, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri; Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Biology, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
"The family Asfarviridae contains only a single virus species, African swine fever virus (ASFV). ASFV is a viral agent with significant economic impact due to its devastating effects on populations of domesticated pigs during outbreaks, but has not been reported to infect humans. We report here the discovery of novel viral sequences in human serum and sewage which are clearly related to the Asfarvirus family, but highly divergent from ASFV. Detection of these sequences suggests that greater genetic diversity may exist among Asfarviruses than previously thought, and raises the possibility that human infection by Asfarviruses may occur."
African Swine Fever Virus (Asfarviridae) sequences found in people with febrile illnesses
Abstract
Virus Identification in Unknown Tropical Febrile Illness Cases Using Deep Sequencing
Dengue virus is an emerging infectious agent that infects an estimated
50–100 million people annually worldwide, yet current diagnostic
practices cannot detect an etiologic pathogen in ∼40% of dengue-like
illnesses. Metagenomic approaches to pathogen detection, such as viral
microarrays and deep sequencing, are promising tools to address
emerging and non-diagnosable disease challenges. In this study, we
used the Virochip microarray and deep sequencing to characterize the
spectrum of viruses present in human sera from 123 Nicaraguan patients
presenting with dengue-like symptoms but testing negative for dengue
virus. We utilized a barcoding strategy to simultaneously deep
sequence multiple serum specimens, generating on average over 1
million reads per sample. We then implemented a stepwise bioinformatic
filtering pipeline to remove the majority of human and low-quality
sequences to improve the speed and accuracy of subsequent unbiased
database searches. By deep sequencing, we were able to detect virus
sequence in 37% (45/123) of previously negative cases. These included
13 cases with Human Herpesvirus 6 sequences. Other samples contained
sequences with similarity to sequences from viruses in the Herpesviridae, Flaviviridae, Circoviridae, Anelloviridae, Asfarviridae, and Parvoviridae
families. In some cases, the putative viral sequences were virtually
identical to known viruses, and in others they diverged, suggesting
that they may derive from novel viruses. These results demonstrate the
utility of unbiased metagenomic approaches in the detection of known
and divergent viruses in the study of tropical febrile illness.
Detection of African swine fever virus-like sequences in ponds in the Mississippi Delta through metagenomic sequencing
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11262-013-0878-2
ASF virus, adapted to grow in VERO cells, produces a strong cytopathic effect in human macrophages leading to cell destruction.
More evidence that African Swine Fever is a human infection and connected to HHV-6?
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3274504/
A Child with Fever Tests Positive for African Swine Fever
https://watermark.silverchair.com/cis643.pdf?token=AQECAHi208BE49Ooan9kkhW_Ercy7Dm3ZL_9Cf3qfKAc485ysgAAAZ8wggGbBgkqhkiG9w0BBwagggGMMIIBiAIBADCCAYEGCSqGSIb3DQEHATAeBglghkgBZQMEAS4wEQQMG56_CXnkHcp6BMrHAgEQgIIBUgfYe7nH1zY3NnbjJ0AD17XkqxSxgnjlZIN6U8pUn7EPy9dLC2N81gRvypFUqjBTLPkl_ll9dXzt2O8DFa19XG_SRYzjkU8gJLn6HQCaArZg6ArxY6JbiwkSNXZ6JuwtYCa-48Qwb1B1Tyu8FbkkWzRbuuBKjz1vi5TXD-EZr2hlwowsrzwkho9uJq_aIMGjbf6eclf1MUGkqj8KDE0uQ_vw51nu5GOSXtEBAt4c6YwJ0ZRTN8VdGiS-7841esNVrYBdxRA3K2Cbc8Wqb4FYtjK1US_M2IGFdrR1P0T4FxoAqoFeun1uH32jWRJdcK2PCtRoTntRkQwC29YAY-S6_8B1-FPIIT3zXat75_o01uaBAnU34NKbVH2fVSy2kdTN-Sh8A-JAnH0wScWU2EuSHMuzPlw50TaQJHTgwYZAQCgR2KprjQQykmAy7Nm4WKhrLqlK
Why HHV-6 may be the human form of African Swine Fever Virus.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/14810348_The_identification_of_an_African_swine_fever_gene_with_conserved_helicase_motifs_and_a_striking_homology_to_herpes_virus_origin_binding_protein_UL9
African Swine Fever University Report by rubiconmedia on Scribd
Wednesday, January 24, 2018
This study found one domestic pig that was PCR positive for ASFV, but negative for ASFV antibodies when run on an ELISA. This is an interesting find as it suggests the presence of asymptomatic carriers among domestic pigs, a possible source of new outbreaks.
https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/5228/7/backlund_f_130116.pdf
African Swine Fever University Report by rubiconmedia on Scribd
Uganda admits the country has an epidemic of "Bleeding Eye Fever"
Is it connected to pigs infected with African Swine Fever Virus?
Monday, January 22, 2018
Sunday, January 21, 2018
What animals are affected by Bleeding Eye Fever in Uganda? Pigs? Is it African Swine Fever?
"Strengthened surveillance in affected human and animal populations is needed to facilitate rapid detection of human and animal cases and response; strengthened capacity to clinically manage any new cases is also needed in the affected area."
Friday, January 19, 2018
Is it pigs with African Swine Fever? How journalists are describing the animal connection to Uganda Bleeding Eye Fever.
The Sun
Tom Michael, Patrick Knox and Nicola Stow
"The disease is transmitted to humans through tick bites, or through contact with the blood of infected animals especially during slaughter."
The Express
Vickiie Oliphant
"The disease is spread through contact with infected animals especially during slaughter."
https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/905004/Plague-black-death-eye-bleeding-fever-disease-uganda-africa
Live Science
"The disease is spread either through tick bites or through contact with the blood of an infected animal, the WHO says."
The Daily Star
Henry Holloway
" . . . spread to humans via tick bites or contact with raw meat and infected animal blood immediately after slaughter."
https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/world-news/674262/Outbreak-Africa-Viral-Hemorrhagic-Fever-Uganda-Crimean-Congo-Deaths-Eye-Bleeding-Opendi
Outbreak News Today
Robert Herriman
"The majority of cases have occurred in people involved in the livestock industry, such as agricultural workers, slaughterhouse workers and veterinarians. Human-to-human transmission is possible."
The Daily Star
Henry Holloway
"A pregnant woman, and two teenagers all succumbed to a mystery infection along with a number of animals."
https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/world-news/674262/Outbreak-Africa-Viral-Hemorrhagic-Fever-Uganda-Crimean-Congo-Deaths-Eye-Bleeding-Opendi
Tom Michael, Patrick Knox and Nicola Stow
"The disease is transmitted to humans through tick bites, or through contact with the blood of infected animals especially during slaughter."
The Express
Vickiie Oliphant
"The disease is spread through contact with infected animals especially during slaughter."
https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/905004/Plague-black-death-eye-bleeding-fever-disease-uganda-africa
Live Science
"The disease is spread either through tick bites or through contact with the blood of an infected animal, the WHO says."
The Daily Star
Henry Holloway
" . . . spread to humans via tick bites or contact with raw meat and infected animal blood immediately after slaughter."
https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/world-news/674262/Outbreak-Africa-Viral-Hemorrhagic-Fever-Uganda-Crimean-Congo-Deaths-Eye-Bleeding-Opendi
Outbreak News Today
Robert Herriman
"The majority of cases have occurred in people involved in the livestock industry, such as agricultural workers, slaughterhouse workers and veterinarians. Human-to-human transmission is possible."
The Daily Star
Henry Holloway
"A pregnant woman, and two teenagers all succumbed to a mystery infection along with a number of animals."
https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/world-news/674262/Outbreak-Africa-Viral-Hemorrhagic-Fever-Uganda-Crimean-Congo-Deaths-Eye-Bleeding-Opendi
African Swine Fever is a big story already because, when and if it spreads to all of Western Europe, it will cause the collapse of a major portion of the agricultural export economies of the affected countries. We're talking about many billions of dollars of losses. And the problem is not temporary because those countries will be suspected of harboring the disease in their wild boar and ticks for decades to come. The disease could easily become endemic. But the issue is so much more important because of the disturbing body of evidence that shows that African Swine Fever Virus can infect humans (despite what authorities currently insist). Thus far, Europe's leading publications and journalists have failed to warn the public of the impending ASFV risk to their health. Here are ten of the biggest African Swine Fever stories they have missed.
1. The African Swine Fever Vaccine for humans.
"African Swine fever is an endemic disease in sub-Saharan Africa and many other parts of the developing world. It is caused by the African Swine virus that primarily replicates in macrophages and monocytes leading to the impairment of the structure and function of the immune system of the infected organisms. Until now the African Swine epidemic continues to spread despite all efforts to contain it. Thus, there is an objective need for effective, safe and affordable preventive and therapeutic approaches, in particular for effective vaccines, to control and eventually eradicate this disease. Since the characteristic feature of the African Swine virus is to impair the immune system and to cause immune deficiencies in its hosts the development of vaccines and other therapeutic approaches against the African Swine virus has implications for other immune deficiencies or diseases. Several other viruses are also known to cause immunodeficiency-like syndromes in humans, including cytomegalovirus, Epstein Barr Virus and others. Moreover, a series of cases of so-called "idiopathic" immunodeficiencies have been documented that display CD4+T-lymphocytopenia with opportunistic infections, but show no evidence of HIV infection. Since antibodies for the African Swine virus have been detected in humans, the possibility of human infection with the African Swine virus exists and may thus far have escaped any systematic screening. Thus, any preventive and therapeutic approach to African Swine fever can have far-reaching implications to control immune deficiency conditions in humans."http://www.faqs.org/patents/app/20080207875
2. Evidence of African Swine Fever found in people with fevers.
Virus Identification in Unknown Tropical Febrile Illness Cases Using Deep Sequencing
Dengue virus is an emerging infectious agent that infects an estimated 50–100 million people annually worldwide, yet current diagnostic practices cannot detect an etiologic pathogen in ∼40% of dengue-like illnesses. Metagenomic approaches to pathogen detection, such as viral microarrays and deep sequencing, are promising tools to address emerging and non-diagnosable disease challenges. In this study, we used the Virochip microarray and deep sequencing to characterize the spectrum of viruses present in human sera from 123 Nicaraguan patients presenting with dengue-like symptoms but testing negative for dengue virus. We utilized a barcoding strategy to simultaneously deep sequence multiple serum specimens, generating on average over 1 million reads per sample. We then implemented a stepwise bioinformatic filtering pipeline to remove the majority of human and low-quality sequences to improve the speed and accuracy of subsequent unbiased database searches. By deep sequencing, we were able to detect virus sequence in 37% (45/123) of previously negative cases. These included 13 cases with Human Herpesvirus 6 sequences. Other samples contained sequences with similarity to sequences from viruses in the Herpesviridae, Flaviviridae, Circoviridae, Anelloviridae, Asfarviridae, and Parvoviridae families. In some cases, the putative viral sequences were virtually identical to known viruses, and in others they diverged, suggesting that they may derive from novel viruses. These results demonstrate the utility of unbiased metagenomic approaches in the detection of known and divergent viruses in the study of tropical febrile illness.
"The African swine fever (ASF) virus, may in the future become dangerous for humans, according to the head of the Russian Epidemiology Service, Chief State Sanitary Doctor Gennady Onishchenko, at the press-conference in St. Petersburg. According to him almost all viruses from time to time go through mutation processes which can give them some additional functions."
http://www.pigprogress.net/Health-Diseases/Outbreaks/2013/7/ASF-could-become-a-human-health-risk-1308047W/
4. Detection of Novel Sequences Related to African Swine Fever Virus in Human Serum and Sewage.
Loh J, Zhao G, Presti RM, Holtz LR, Finkbeiner SR, Droit L, Villasana Z, Todd C, Pipas JM, Calgua B, Girones R, Wang D, Virgin HW.
Departments of Pathology & Immunology and Molecular Microbiology, Department of Medicine and Department of Pediatrics, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri; Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Biology, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
"The family Asfarviridae contains only a single virus species, African swine fever virus (ASFV). ASFV is a viral agent with significant economic impact due to its devastating effects on populations of domesticated pigs during outbreaks, but has not been reported to infect humans. We report here the discovery of novel viral sequences in human serum and sewage which are clearly related to the Asfarvirus family, but highly divergent from ASFV. Detection of these sequences suggests that greater genetic diversity may exist among Asfarviruses than previously thought, and raises the possibility that human infection by Asfarviruses may occur."
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19812170?dopt=Abstract
Loh J, Zhao G, Presti RM, Holtz LR, Finkbeiner SR, Droit L, Villasana Z, Todd C, Pipas JM, Calgua B, Girones R, Wang D, Virgin HW.
Departments of Pathology & Immunology and Molecular Microbiology, Department of Medicine and Department of Pediatrics, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri; Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Biology, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
"The family Asfarviridae contains only a single virus species, African swine fever virus (ASFV). ASFV is a viral agent with significant economic impact due to its devastating effects on populations of domesticated pigs during outbreaks, but has not been reported to infect humans. We report here the discovery of novel viral sequences in human serum and sewage which are clearly related to the Asfarvirus family, but highly divergent from ASFV. Detection of these sequences suggests that greater genetic diversity may exist among Asfarviruses than previously thought, and raises the possibility that human infection by Asfarviruses may occur."
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19812170?dopt=Abstract
5. How the American science Robert Gallo may have stolen the African Swine Fever research of a Boston University scientist and may have given African swine Fever the fraudulent new name of "HHV-6."
"In August, 1986, John Beldekas was invited to go to the NCI and present his findings on the link between ASFV [African Swine Fever virus] and AIDS, which he did. Beldekas gave samples of all his lab work to Gallo. Later, the government asked Beldekas to turn over all his reagents and lab work to the government, which he did. Beldekas had found ASFV presence in nine of 21 AIDS patients using two standard procedures. At the meeting, Gallo was reported saying: “we know it is not ASFV.” How could Gallo know this as he hadn’t done any of his own tests to look for ASFV?
Two months later, Gallo published an article in Science (Oct 31, 1986) that he discovered a new possible co-factor in AIDS, a virus he called Human B Cell Lymphotropic Virus which he named HBLV. Like ASFV, HBLV infected B cells and also lived in macrophages. Did Gallo steal Beldekas’s ASF virus he found in AIDS patients and rename it HBLV? Later on, when Gallo found that HBLV could also infect other immune cells, he changed the name of HBLV to HHV-6. Eventually, Gallo identified his HBLV as the variant A strain of HHV-6 and called it a human herpesvirus."
--Mark Konlee
Two months later, Gallo published an article in Science (Oct 31, 1986) that he discovered a new possible co-factor in AIDS, a virus he called Human B Cell Lymphotropic Virus which he named HBLV. Like ASFV, HBLV infected B cells and also lived in macrophages. Did Gallo steal Beldekas’s ASF virus he found in AIDS patients and rename it HBLV? Later on, when Gallo found that HBLV could also infect other immune cells, he changed the name of HBLV to HHV-6. Eventually, Gallo identified his HBLV as the variant A strain of HHV-6 and called it a human herpesvirus."
--Mark Konlee
http://www.keephopealive.org/report10.html
6. The epidemiology that suggests that African Swine Fever in people in Sardinia is misidentified as HHV-8.
The world's highest incidence of Kaposi's sarcoma occurs in Sardinia (Reference) Is it possible that it is due to the fact that African Swine Fever Virus is endemic on the island? (Reference) One study suggests that the incidence of K.S. in northern Sardinia is highest in a countryside area where people have contact with animals. (Reference) Given the high prevalence of HHV-8,--the so-called K.S. herpes virus--in Sardinia (Reference) is it at all possible that HHV-8 may have been misclassified and actually is a human-adapted form of African Swine Fever Virus? (ASFV has been at least visually mistaken for another herpes virus, CMV, in the past.)
A number of experiments could be conducted to explore this hypothesis. In addition to a direct comparison of ASFV and HHV-8, pigs with African Swine Fever Virus could be tested for sequences of HHV-8. People with Kaposi's sarcoma could be tested for sequences of African Swine Fever, including new Asfaviridae sequences recently discovered. (Reference)
A comparison of the K.S. lesions in humans and ASFV lesions in pigs might be in order.Given that African Swine Fever is currently spreading in Russia and is now threatening Europe and China, (Reference) it would be useful to know whether people who are exposed to pigs with ASFV are at increased risk for HHV-8, Kaposi's sarcoma and the other pathologies associated with HHV-8. A study in sub-Saharan Africa where ASFV is endemic and HHV-8 is also endemic (Reference) might be useful. And areas of Russia where ASFV is spreading could be monitored closely for any signs of an increase of K.S. or HHV-8 infection and HHV-8 related pathologies.HHV-8 is an emerging health problem. HHV-8-associated K.S. is a significant problem in AIDS patients. It may also be the key to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. HHV-8 has been found in the cerebrospinal fluid of 50% of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome patients. (Reference) HHV-8 has been linked to type 2 diabetes. (Reference) HHV-8 has been detected in B-cells in Castleman's disease and primary effusion lymphoma. (Reference).
If HHV-8 is a form of ASFV, it is possible that pigs might constitute a useful animal model for the study of possible treatments for K.S. and other pathologies associated with HHV-8. And if there is any relationship between ASFV and HHV-8, people may have to be warned to take special precautions around pigs in areas where there are ASFV outbreaks. And countries where undercooked pork is consumed (like Ukraine where salo is a staple) may need to alert the public to cook all pork products thoroughly during ASFV epidemics.
7. ASF virus, adapted to grow in VERO cells, produces a strong cytopathic effect in human macrophages leading to cell destruction.
8. A sick child tests positive for African Swine Fever virus.
9. Newspaper publisher writes Truth to Power, a memoir about uncovering the African Swine Fever cover-up in America.
Truth to Power details the investigative reporting of a New York Native that reveals the Centers for Disease Control and the United States Department of Agriculture lied about the presence of African Swine Fever in pigs and people.
10. Journalist pens Pig: A Memoir, an Orwellian Novel warning about the consequences of an African Swine Fever Virus epidemic in humans.
The entire text of Pig: A Memoir can be read for free here.
African swine fever keeps spreading in Latvia at unchangingly fast rate this year
https://www.baltictimes.com/african_swine_fever_keeps_spreading_in_latvia_at_unchangingly_fast_rate_this_year/ine_fever_keeps_spreading_in_latvia_at_unchangingly_fast_rate_this_year/
Thursday, January 18, 2018
Wednesday, January 17, 2018
Pigs with African Swine Fever in Uganda? "WHO investigators also discovered a worrying number of animals had died from similar symptoms."
Black Death outbreak MAP: Latest maps show plague outbreak in Uganda
https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/906285/Black-Death-map-plague-outbreak-maps-Uganda
African Swine Fever University Report by rubiconmedia on Scribd
The African Swine Fever Moment of Truth
If it is discovered that HHV-8 in Sardinia, Zambia, and Uganda is really the human form of African Swine Fever, it will strengthen the case that HHV-8 and the related viruses of HHV-6 and HHV-7 are the real cause of AIDS and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.
HHV-6/7/8 = ASFV?
Is African Swine Fever related to HHV-8 and is it causing Kaposi's Sarcoma in Uganda?
https://dceg.cancer.gov/research/cancer-types/kaposi-sarcoma/kaposi-sarcoma-herpesvirus-uganda
Kaposi's sarcoma in Uganda: A clinico-pathological study
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ijc.2910080116/full?scrollTo=references
Kaposi's sarcoma in Uganda: A clinico-pathological study
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ijc.2910080116/full?scrollTo=references
Tuesday, January 16, 2018
Antibodies to virus supposedly causing Bleeding Eye Disease in Uganda have been found in pigs. Is African Swine Fever connected?
"CCHFV can be found in many species of wild and domestic mammals, including small animals that serve as hosts for immature ticks and hosts of mature ticks are the large herbivores. CCHFV has been isolated from a number of species including cattle, sheep, hares, goats, hedgehogs, mice and dogs (Kemp et al., 2014). Antibodies have been reported in horses, donkeys, pigs, buffalo, rhinoceroses, giraffes and other mammalian species."
Read more at http://researcherslinks.com/current-issues/Crimean-Congo-Hemorrhagic-Fever/18/8/184/html#Pepw0FHPKBKf7Myb.99
Read more at http://researcherslinks.com/current-issues/Crimean-Congo-Hemorrhagic-Fever/18/8/184/html#Pepw0FHPKBKf7Myb.99
African Swine Fever stories never include the possibility that it did infect American pigs under a new name.
https://www.iol.co.za/pretoria-news/the-white-houses-flagrant-ignorance-on-africa-12745596
African Swine Fever is a big story already because, when and if it spreads to all of Western Europe, it will cause the collapse of a major portion of the agricultural export economies of the affected countries. We're talking about many billions of dollars of losses. And the problem is not temporary because those countries will be suspected of harboring the disease in their wild boar and ticks for decades to come. The disease could easily become endemic. But the issue is so much more important because of the disturbing body of evidence that shows that African Swine Fever Virus can infect humans (despite what authorities currently insist). Thus far, Europe's leading publications and journalists have failed to warn the public of the impending ASFV risk to their health. Here are ten of the biggest African Swine Fever stories they have missed.
1. The African Swine Fever Vaccine for humans.
"African Swine fever is an endemic disease in sub-Saharan Africa and many other parts of the developing world. It is caused by the African Swine virus that primarily replicates in macrophages and monocytes leading to the impairment of the structure and function of the immune system of the infected organisms. Until now the African Swine epidemic continues to spread despite all efforts to contain it. Thus, there is an objective need for effective, safe and affordable preventive and therapeutic approaches, in particular for effective vaccines, to control and eventually eradicate this disease. Since the characteristic feature of the African Swine virus is to impair the immune system and to cause immune deficiencies in its hosts the development of vaccines and other therapeutic approaches against the African Swine virus has implications for other immune deficiencies or diseases. Several other viruses are also known to cause immunodeficiency-like syndromes in humans, including cytomegalovirus, Epstein Barr Virus and others. Moreover, a series of cases of so-called "idiopathic" immunodeficiencies have been documented that display CD4+T-lymphocytopenia with opportunistic infections, but show no evidence of HIV infection. Since antibodies for the African Swine virus have been detected in humans, the possibility of human infection with the African Swine virus exists and may thus far have escaped any systematic screening. Thus, any preventive and therapeutic approach to African Swine fever can have far-reaching implications to control immune deficiency conditions in humans."http://www.faqs.org/patents/app/20080207875
2. Evidence of African Swine Fever found in people with fevers.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3274504/
3. A Russian Scientists warns that African Swine Fever could infect humans.
Russian Scientist: ASF could become a human health risk
The world's highest incidence of Kaposi's sarcoma occurs in Sardinia (Reference) Is it possible that it is due to the fact that African Swine Fever Virus is endemic on the island? (Reference) One study suggests that the incidence of K.S. in northern Sardinia is highest in a countryside area where people have contact with animals. (Reference) Given the high prevalence of HHV-8,--the so-called K.S. herpes virus--in Sardinia (Reference) is it at all possible that HHV-8 may have been misclassified and actually is a human-adapted form of African Swine Fever Virus? (ASFV has been at least visually mistaken for another herpes virus, CMV, in the past.)
African Swine Fever is a big story already because, when and if it spreads to all of Western Europe, it will cause the collapse of a major portion of the agricultural export economies of the affected countries. We're talking about many billions of dollars of losses. And the problem is not temporary because those countries will be suspected of harboring the disease in their wild boar and ticks for decades to come. The disease could easily become endemic. But the issue is so much more important because of the disturbing body of evidence that shows that African Swine Fever Virus can infect humans (despite what authorities currently insist). Thus far, Europe's leading publications and journalists have failed to warn the public of the impending ASFV risk to their health. Here are ten of the biggest African Swine Fever stories they have missed.
1. The African Swine Fever Vaccine for humans.
"African Swine fever is an endemic disease in sub-Saharan Africa and many other parts of the developing world. It is caused by the African Swine virus that primarily replicates in macrophages and monocytes leading to the impairment of the structure and function of the immune system of the infected organisms. Until now the African Swine epidemic continues to spread despite all efforts to contain it. Thus, there is an objective need for effective, safe and affordable preventive and therapeutic approaches, in particular for effective vaccines, to control and eventually eradicate this disease. Since the characteristic feature of the African Swine virus is to impair the immune system and to cause immune deficiencies in its hosts the development of vaccines and other therapeutic approaches against the African Swine virus has implications for other immune deficiencies or diseases. Several other viruses are also known to cause immunodeficiency-like syndromes in humans, including cytomegalovirus, Epstein Barr Virus and others. Moreover, a series of cases of so-called "idiopathic" immunodeficiencies have been documented that display CD4+T-lymphocytopenia with opportunistic infections, but show no evidence of HIV infection. Since antibodies for the African Swine virus have been detected in humans, the possibility of human infection with the African Swine virus exists and may thus far have escaped any systematic screening. Thus, any preventive and therapeutic approach to African Swine fever can have far-reaching implications to control immune deficiency conditions in humans."http://www.faqs.org/patents/app/20080207875
2. Evidence of African Swine Fever found in people with fevers.
Virus Identification in Unknown Tropical Febrile Illness Cases Using Deep Sequencing
Dengue virus is an emerging infectious agent that infects an estimated 50–100 million people annually worldwide, yet current diagnostic practices cannot detect an etiologic pathogen in ∼40% of dengue-like illnesses. Metagenomic approaches to pathogen detection, such as viral microarrays and deep sequencing, are promising tools to address emerging and non-diagnosable disease challenges. In this study, we used the Virochip microarray and deep sequencing to characterize the spectrum of viruses present in human sera from 123 Nicaraguan patients presenting with dengue-like symptoms but testing negative for dengue virus. We utilized a barcoding strategy to simultaneously deep sequence multiple serum specimens, generating on average over 1 million reads per sample. We then implemented a stepwise bioinformatic filtering pipeline to remove the majority of human and low-quality sequences to improve the speed and accuracy of subsequent unbiased database searches. By deep sequencing, we were able to detect virus sequence in 37% (45/123) of previously negative cases. These included 13 cases with Human Herpesvirus 6 sequences. Other samples contained sequences with similarity to sequences from viruses in the Herpesviridae, Flaviviridae, Circoviridae, Anelloviridae, Asfarviridae, and Parvoviridae families. In some cases, the putative viral sequences were virtually identical to known viruses, and in others they diverged, suggesting that they may derive from novel viruses. These results demonstrate the utility of unbiased metagenomic approaches in the detection of known and divergent viruses in the study of tropical febrile illness.
"The African swine fever (ASF) virus, may in the future become dangerous for humans, according to the head of the Russian Epidemiology Service, Chief State Sanitary Doctor Gennady Onishchenko, at the press-conference in St. Petersburg. According to him almost all viruses from time to time go through mutation processes which can give them some additional functions."
http://www.pigprogress.net/Health-Diseases/Outbreaks/2013/7/ASF-could-become-a-human-health-risk-1308047W/
4. Detection of Novel Sequences Related to African Swine Fever Virus in Human Serum and Sewage.
Loh J, Zhao G, Presti RM, Holtz LR, Finkbeiner SR, Droit L, Villasana Z, Todd C, Pipas JM, Calgua B, Girones R, Wang D, Virgin HW.
Departments of Pathology & Immunology and Molecular Microbiology, Department of Medicine and Department of Pediatrics, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri; Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Biology, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
"The family Asfarviridae contains only a single virus species, African swine fever virus (ASFV). ASFV is a viral agent with significant economic impact due to its devastating effects on populations of domesticated pigs during outbreaks, but has not been reported to infect humans. We report here the discovery of novel viral sequences in human serum and sewage which are clearly related to the Asfarvirus family, but highly divergent from ASFV. Detection of these sequences suggests that greater genetic diversity may exist among Asfarviruses than previously thought, and raises the possibility that human infection by Asfarviruses may occur."
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19812170?dopt=Abstract
Loh J, Zhao G, Presti RM, Holtz LR, Finkbeiner SR, Droit L, Villasana Z, Todd C, Pipas JM, Calgua B, Girones R, Wang D, Virgin HW.
Departments of Pathology & Immunology and Molecular Microbiology, Department of Medicine and Department of Pediatrics, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri; Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Biology, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
"The family Asfarviridae contains only a single virus species, African swine fever virus (ASFV). ASFV is a viral agent with significant economic impact due to its devastating effects on populations of domesticated pigs during outbreaks, but has not been reported to infect humans. We report here the discovery of novel viral sequences in human serum and sewage which are clearly related to the Asfarvirus family, but highly divergent from ASFV. Detection of these sequences suggests that greater genetic diversity may exist among Asfarviruses than previously thought, and raises the possibility that human infection by Asfarviruses may occur."
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19812170?dopt=Abstract
5. How the American science Robert Gallo may have stolen the African Swine Fever research of a Boston University scientist and may have given African swine Fever the fraudulent new name of "HHV-6."
"In August, 1986, John Beldekas was invited to go to the NCI and present his findings on the link between ASFV [African Swine Fever virus] and AIDS, which he did. Beldekas gave samples of all his lab work to Gallo. Later, the government asked Beldekas to turn over all his reagents and lab work to the government, which he did. Beldekas had found ASFV presence in nine of 21 AIDS patients using two standard procedures. At the meeting, Gallo was reported saying: “we know it is not ASFV.” How could Gallo know this as he hadn’t done any of his own tests to look for ASFV?
Two months later, Gallo published an article in Science (Oct 31, 1986) that he discovered a new possible co-factor in AIDS, a virus he called Human B Cell Lymphotropic Virus which he named HBLV. Like ASFV, HBLV infected B cells and also lived in macrophages. Did Gallo steal Beldekas’s ASF virus he found in AIDS patients and rename it HBLV? Later on, when Gallo found that HBLV could also infect other immune cells, he changed the name of HBLV to HHV-6. Eventually, Gallo identified his HBLV as the variant A strain of HHV-6 and called it a human herpesvirus."
--Mark Konlee
Two months later, Gallo published an article in Science (Oct 31, 1986) that he discovered a new possible co-factor in AIDS, a virus he called Human B Cell Lymphotropic Virus which he named HBLV. Like ASFV, HBLV infected B cells and also lived in macrophages. Did Gallo steal Beldekas’s ASF virus he found in AIDS patients and rename it HBLV? Later on, when Gallo found that HBLV could also infect other immune cells, he changed the name of HBLV to HHV-6. Eventually, Gallo identified his HBLV as the variant A strain of HHV-6 and called it a human herpesvirus."
--Mark Konlee
http://www.keephopealive.org/report10.html
6. The epidemiology that suggests that African Swine Fever in people in Sardinia is misidentified as HHV-8.
The world's highest incidence of Kaposi's sarcoma occurs in Sardinia (Reference) Is it possible that it is due to the fact that African Swine Fever Virus is endemic on the island? (Reference) One study suggests that the incidence of K.S. in northern Sardinia is highest in a countryside area where people have contact with animals. (Reference) Given the high prevalence of HHV-8,--the so-called K.S. herpes virus--in Sardinia (Reference) is it at all possible that HHV-8 may have been misclassified and actually is a human-adapted form of African Swine Fever Virus? (ASFV has been at least visually mistaken for another herpes virus, CMV, in the past.)
A number of experiments could be conducted to explore this hypothesis. In addition to a direct comparison of ASFV and HHV-8, pigs with African Swine Fever Virus could be tested for sequences of HHV-8. People with Kaposi's sarcoma could be tested for sequences of African Swine Fever, including new Asfaviridae sequences recently discovered. (Reference)
A comparison of the K.S. lesions in humans and ASFV lesions in pigs might be in order.Given that African Swine Fever is currently spreading in Russia and is now threatening Europe and China, (Reference) it would be useful to know whether people who are exposed to pigs with ASFV are at increased risk for HHV-8, Kaposi's sarcoma and the other pathologies associated with HHV-8. A study in sub-Saharan Africa where ASFV is endemic and HHV-8 is also endemic (Reference) might be useful. And areas of Russia where ASFV is spreading could be monitored closely for any signs of an increase of K.S. or HHV-8 infection and HHV-8 related pathologies.HHV-8 is an emerging health problem. HHV-8-associated K.S. is a significant problem in AIDS patients. It may also be the key to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. HHV-8 has been found in the cerebrospinal fluid of 50% of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome patients. (Reference) HHV-8 has been linked to type 2 diabetes. (Reference) HHV-8 has been detected in B-cells in Castleman's disease and primary effusion lymphoma. (Reference).
If HHV-8 is a form of ASFV, it is possible that pigs might constitute a useful animal model for the study of possible treatments for K.S. and other pathologies associated with HHV-8. And if there is any relationship between ASFV and HHV-8, people may have to be warned to take special precautions around pigs in areas where there are ASFV outbreaks. And countries where undercooked pork is consumed (like Ukraine where salo is a staple) may need to alert the public to cook all pork products thoroughly during ASFV epidemics.
7. ASF virus, adapted to grow in VERO cells, produces a strong cytopathic effect in human macrophages leading to cell destruction.
8. A sick child tests positive for African Swine Fever virus.
9. Newspaper publisher writes Truth to Power, a memoir about uncovering the African Swine Fever cover-up in America.
Truth to Power details the investigative reporting of a New York Native that reveals the Centers for Disease Control and the United States Department of Agriculture lied about the presence of African Swine Fever in pigs and people.
10. Journalist pens Pig: A Memoir, an Orwellian Novel warning about the consequences of an African Swine Fever Virus epidemic in humans.
The entire text of Pig: A Memoir can be read for free here.
Is African Swine Fever the cause of bleeding disease in Uganda? Study suggest poverty forces people to eat pork from sick pigs.
https://pub.epsilon.slu.se/14253/1/chenais_e_170417.pdf
African Swine Fever is a big story already because, when and if it spreads to all of Western Europe, it will cause the collapse of a major portion of the agricultural export economies of the affected countries. We're talking about many billions of dollars of losses. And the problem is not temporary because those countries will be suspected of harboring the disease in their wild boar and ticks for decades to come. The disease could easily become endemic. But the issue is so much more important because of the disturbing body of evidence that shows that African Swine Fever Virus can infect humans (despite what authorities currently insist). Thus far, Europe's leading publications and journalists have failed to warn the public of the impending ASFV risk to their health. Here are ten of the biggest African Swine Fever stories they have missed.
1. The African Swine Fever Vaccine for humans.
"African Swine fever is an endemic disease in sub-Saharan Africa and many other parts of the developing world. It is caused by the African Swine virus that primarily replicates in macrophages and monocytes leading to the impairment of the structure and function of the immune system of the infected organisms. Until now the African Swine epidemic continues to spread despite all efforts to contain it. Thus, there is an objective need for effective, safe and affordable preventive and therapeutic approaches, in particular for effective vaccines, to control and eventually eradicate this disease. Since the characteristic feature of the African Swine virus is to impair the immune system and to cause immune deficiencies in its hosts the development of vaccines and other therapeutic approaches against the African Swine virus has implications for other immune deficiencies or diseases. Several other viruses are also known to cause immunodeficiency-like syndromes in humans, including cytomegalovirus, Epstein Barr Virus and others. Moreover, a series of cases of so-called "idiopathic" immunodeficiencies have been documented that display CD4+T-lymphocytopenia with opportunistic infections, but show no evidence of HIV infection. Since antibodies for the African Swine virus have been detected in humans, the possibility of human infection with the African Swine virus exists and may thus far have escaped any systematic screening. Thus, any preventive and therapeutic approach to African Swine fever can have far-reaching implications to control immune deficiency conditions in humans."http://www.faqs.org/patents/app/20080207875
2. Evidence of African Swine Fever found in people with fevers.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3274504/
3. A Russian Scientists warns that African Swine Fever could infect humans.
Russian Scientist: ASF could become a human health risk
The world's highest incidence of Kaposi's sarcoma occurs in Sardinia (Reference) Is it possible that it is due to the fact that African Swine Fever Virus is endemic on the island? (Reference) One study suggests that the incidence of K.S. in northern Sardinia is highest in a countryside area where people have contact with animals. (Reference) Given the high prevalence of HHV-8,--the so-called K.S. herpes virus--in Sardinia (Reference) is it at all possible that HHV-8 may have been misclassified and actually is a human-adapted form of African Swine Fever Virus? (ASFV has been at least visually mistaken for another herpes virus, CMV, in the past.)
African Swine Fever is a big story already because, when and if it spreads to all of Western Europe, it will cause the collapse of a major portion of the agricultural export economies of the affected countries. We're talking about many billions of dollars of losses. And the problem is not temporary because those countries will be suspected of harboring the disease in their wild boar and ticks for decades to come. The disease could easily become endemic. But the issue is so much more important because of the disturbing body of evidence that shows that African Swine Fever Virus can infect humans (despite what authorities currently insist). Thus far, Europe's leading publications and journalists have failed to warn the public of the impending ASFV risk to their health. Here are ten of the biggest African Swine Fever stories they have missed.
1. The African Swine Fever Vaccine for humans.
"African Swine fever is an endemic disease in sub-Saharan Africa and many other parts of the developing world. It is caused by the African Swine virus that primarily replicates in macrophages and monocytes leading to the impairment of the structure and function of the immune system of the infected organisms. Until now the African Swine epidemic continues to spread despite all efforts to contain it. Thus, there is an objective need for effective, safe and affordable preventive and therapeutic approaches, in particular for effective vaccines, to control and eventually eradicate this disease. Since the characteristic feature of the African Swine virus is to impair the immune system and to cause immune deficiencies in its hosts the development of vaccines and other therapeutic approaches against the African Swine virus has implications for other immune deficiencies or diseases. Several other viruses are also known to cause immunodeficiency-like syndromes in humans, including cytomegalovirus, Epstein Barr Virus and others. Moreover, a series of cases of so-called "idiopathic" immunodeficiencies have been documented that display CD4+T-lymphocytopenia with opportunistic infections, but show no evidence of HIV infection. Since antibodies for the African Swine virus have been detected in humans, the possibility of human infection with the African Swine virus exists and may thus far have escaped any systematic screening. Thus, any preventive and therapeutic approach to African Swine fever can have far-reaching implications to control immune deficiency conditions in humans."http://www.faqs.org/patents/app/20080207875
2. Evidence of African Swine Fever found in people with fevers.
Virus Identification in Unknown Tropical Febrile Illness Cases Using Deep Sequencing
Dengue virus is an emerging infectious agent that infects an estimated 50–100 million people annually worldwide, yet current diagnostic practices cannot detect an etiologic pathogen in ∼40% of dengue-like illnesses. Metagenomic approaches to pathogen detection, such as viral microarrays and deep sequencing, are promising tools to address emerging and non-diagnosable disease challenges. In this study, we used the Virochip microarray and deep sequencing to characterize the spectrum of viruses present in human sera from 123 Nicaraguan patients presenting with dengue-like symptoms but testing negative for dengue virus. We utilized a barcoding strategy to simultaneously deep sequence multiple serum specimens, generating on average over 1 million reads per sample. We then implemented a stepwise bioinformatic filtering pipeline to remove the majority of human and low-quality sequences to improve the speed and accuracy of subsequent unbiased database searches. By deep sequencing, we were able to detect virus sequence in 37% (45/123) of previously negative cases. These included 13 cases with Human Herpesvirus 6 sequences. Other samples contained sequences with similarity to sequences from viruses in the Herpesviridae, Flaviviridae, Circoviridae, Anelloviridae, Asfarviridae, and Parvoviridae families. In some cases, the putative viral sequences were virtually identical to known viruses, and in others they diverged, suggesting that they may derive from novel viruses. These results demonstrate the utility of unbiased metagenomic approaches in the detection of known and divergent viruses in the study of tropical febrile illness.
"The African swine fever (ASF) virus, may in the future become dangerous for humans, according to the head of the Russian Epidemiology Service, Chief State Sanitary Doctor Gennady Onishchenko, at the press-conference in St. Petersburg. According to him almost all viruses from time to time go through mutation processes which can give them some additional functions."
http://www.pigprogress.net/Health-Diseases/Outbreaks/2013/7/ASF-could-become-a-human-health-risk-1308047W/
4. Detection of Novel Sequences Related to African Swine Fever Virus in Human Serum and Sewage.
Loh J, Zhao G, Presti RM, Holtz LR, Finkbeiner SR, Droit L, Villasana Z, Todd C, Pipas JM, Calgua B, Girones R, Wang D, Virgin HW.
Departments of Pathology & Immunology and Molecular Microbiology, Department of Medicine and Department of Pediatrics, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri; Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Biology, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
"The family Asfarviridae contains only a single virus species, African swine fever virus (ASFV). ASFV is a viral agent with significant economic impact due to its devastating effects on populations of domesticated pigs during outbreaks, but has not been reported to infect humans. We report here the discovery of novel viral sequences in human serum and sewage which are clearly related to the Asfarvirus family, but highly divergent from ASFV. Detection of these sequences suggests that greater genetic diversity may exist among Asfarviruses than previously thought, and raises the possibility that human infection by Asfarviruses may occur."
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19812170?dopt=Abstract
Loh J, Zhao G, Presti RM, Holtz LR, Finkbeiner SR, Droit L, Villasana Z, Todd C, Pipas JM, Calgua B, Girones R, Wang D, Virgin HW.
Departments of Pathology & Immunology and Molecular Microbiology, Department of Medicine and Department of Pediatrics, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri; Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Biology, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
"The family Asfarviridae contains only a single virus species, African swine fever virus (ASFV). ASFV is a viral agent with significant economic impact due to its devastating effects on populations of domesticated pigs during outbreaks, but has not been reported to infect humans. We report here the discovery of novel viral sequences in human serum and sewage which are clearly related to the Asfarvirus family, but highly divergent from ASFV. Detection of these sequences suggests that greater genetic diversity may exist among Asfarviruses than previously thought, and raises the possibility that human infection by Asfarviruses may occur."
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19812170?dopt=Abstract
5. How the American science Robert Gallo may have stolen the African Swine Fever research of a Boston University scientist and may have given African swine Fever the fraudulent new name of "HHV-6."
"In August, 1986, John Beldekas was invited to go to the NCI and present his findings on the link between ASFV [African Swine Fever virus] and AIDS, which he did. Beldekas gave samples of all his lab work to Gallo. Later, the government asked Beldekas to turn over all his reagents and lab work to the government, which he did. Beldekas had found ASFV presence in nine of 21 AIDS patients using two standard procedures. At the meeting, Gallo was reported saying: “we know it is not ASFV.” How could Gallo know this as he hadn’t done any of his own tests to look for ASFV?
Two months later, Gallo published an article in Science (Oct 31, 1986) that he discovered a new possible co-factor in AIDS, a virus he called Human B Cell Lymphotropic Virus which he named HBLV. Like ASFV, HBLV infected B cells and also lived in macrophages. Did Gallo steal Beldekas’s ASF virus he found in AIDS patients and rename it HBLV? Later on, when Gallo found that HBLV could also infect other immune cells, he changed the name of HBLV to HHV-6. Eventually, Gallo identified his HBLV as the variant A strain of HHV-6 and called it a human herpesvirus."
--Mark Konlee
Two months later, Gallo published an article in Science (Oct 31, 1986) that he discovered a new possible co-factor in AIDS, a virus he called Human B Cell Lymphotropic Virus which he named HBLV. Like ASFV, HBLV infected B cells and also lived in macrophages. Did Gallo steal Beldekas’s ASF virus he found in AIDS patients and rename it HBLV? Later on, when Gallo found that HBLV could also infect other immune cells, he changed the name of HBLV to HHV-6. Eventually, Gallo identified his HBLV as the variant A strain of HHV-6 and called it a human herpesvirus."
--Mark Konlee
http://www.keephopealive.org/report10.html
6. The epidemiology that suggests that African Swine Fever in people in Sardinia is misidentified as HHV-8.
The world's highest incidence of Kaposi's sarcoma occurs in Sardinia (Reference) Is it possible that it is due to the fact that African Swine Fever Virus is endemic on the island? (Reference) One study suggests that the incidence of K.S. in northern Sardinia is highest in a countryside area where people have contact with animals. (Reference) Given the high prevalence of HHV-8,--the so-called K.S. herpes virus--in Sardinia (Reference) is it at all possible that HHV-8 may have been misclassified and actually is a human-adapted form of African Swine Fever Virus? (ASFV has been at least visually mistaken for another herpes virus, CMV, in the past.)
A number of experiments could be conducted to explore this hypothesis. In addition to a direct comparison of ASFV and HHV-8, pigs with African Swine Fever Virus could be tested for sequences of HHV-8. People with Kaposi's sarcoma could be tested for sequences of African Swine Fever, including new Asfaviridae sequences recently discovered. (Reference)
A comparison of the K.S. lesions in humans and ASFV lesions in pigs might be in order.Given that African Swine Fever is currently spreading in Russia and is now threatening Europe and China, (Reference) it would be useful to know whether people who are exposed to pigs with ASFV are at increased risk for HHV-8, Kaposi's sarcoma and the other pathologies associated with HHV-8. A study in sub-Saharan Africa where ASFV is endemic and HHV-8 is also endemic (Reference) might be useful. And areas of Russia where ASFV is spreading could be monitored closely for any signs of an increase of K.S. or HHV-8 infection and HHV-8 related pathologies.HHV-8 is an emerging health problem. HHV-8-associated K.S. is a significant problem in AIDS patients. It may also be the key to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. HHV-8 has been found in the cerebrospinal fluid of 50% of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome patients. (Reference) HHV-8 has been linked to type 2 diabetes. (Reference) HHV-8 has been detected in B-cells in Castleman's disease and primary effusion lymphoma. (Reference).
If HHV-8 is a form of ASFV, it is possible that pigs might constitute a useful animal model for the study of possible treatments for K.S. and other pathologies associated with HHV-8. And if there is any relationship between ASFV and HHV-8, people may have to be warned to take special precautions around pigs in areas where there are ASFV outbreaks. And countries where undercooked pork is consumed (like Ukraine where salo is a staple) may need to alert the public to cook all pork products thoroughly during ASFV epidemics.
7. ASF virus, adapted to grow in VERO cells, produces a strong cytopathic effect in human macrophages leading to cell destruction.
8. A sick child tests positive for African Swine Fever virus.
9. Newspaper publisher writes Truth to Power, a memoir about uncovering the African Swine Fever cover-up in America.
Truth to Power details the investigative reporting of a New York Native that reveals the Centers for Disease Control and the United States Department of Agriculture lied about the presence of African Swine Fever in pigs and people.
10. Journalist pens Pig: A Memoir, an Orwellian Novel warning about the consequences of an African Swine Fever Virus epidemic in humans.
The entire text of Pig: A Memoir can be read for free here.
Is African Swine Fever causing Bleeding Eye Disease in Uganda?
Uganda: Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever confirmed in Nakaseke child
A 2013 Study found that 100% of pigs is Nakaseke tested positive for African Swine Fever Virus.
https://bmcvetres.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1746-6148-9-263
A 2013 Study found that 100% of pigs is Nakaseke tested positive for African Swine Fever Virus.
https://bmcvetres.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1746-6148-9-263
Are pigs infected with African Swine Fever the source of the emerging human epidemic characterized by bleeding?
"Strengthened surveillance in affected human and animal populations is needed to facilitate rapid detection of human and animal cases and response; strengthened capacity to clinically manage any new cases is also needed in the affected area."
Monday, January 15, 2018
The Ten Big Stories about the African Swine Fever Threat to Human Health that Journalists in Western Europe are Missing.
African Swine Fever is a big story already because, when and if it spreads to all of Western Europe, it will cause the collapse of a major portion of the agricultural export economies of the affected countries. We're talking about many billions of dollars of losses. And the problem is not temporary because those countries will be suspected of harboring the disease in their wild boar and ticks for decades to come. The disease could easily become endemic. But the issue is so much more important because of the disturbing body of evidence that shows that African Swine Fever Virus can infect humans (despite what authorities currently insist). Thus far, Europe's leading publications and journalists have failed to warn the public of the impending ASFV risk to their health. Here are ten of the biggest African Swine Fever stories they have missed.
1. The African Swine Fever Vaccine for humans.
"African Swine fever is an endemic disease in sub-Saharan Africa and many other parts of the developing world. It is caused by the African Swine virus that primarily replicates in macrophages and monocytes leading to the impairment of the structure and function of the immune system of the infected organisms. Until now the African Swine epidemic continues to spread despite all efforts to contain it. Thus, there is an objective need for effective, safe and affordable preventive and therapeutic approaches, in particular for effective vaccines, to control and eventually eradicate this disease. Since the characteristic feature of the African Swine virus is to impair the immune system and to cause immune deficiencies in its hosts the development of vaccines and other therapeutic approaches against the African Swine virus has implications for other immune deficiencies or diseases. Several other viruses are also known to cause immunodeficiency-like syndromes in humans, including cytomegalovirus, Epstein Barr Virus and others. Moreover, a series of cases of so-called "idiopathic" immunodeficiencies have been documented that display CD4+T-lymphocytopenia with opportunistic infections, but show no evidence of HIV infection. Since antibodies for the African Swine virus have been detected in humans, the possibility of human infection with the African Swine virus exists and may thus far have escaped any systematic screening. Thus, any preventive and therapeutic approach to African Swine fever can have far-reaching implications to control immune deficiency conditions in humans."http://www.faqs.org/patents/app/20080207875
2. Evidence of African Swine Fever found in people with fevers.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3274504/
3. A Russian Scientists warns that African Swine Fever could infect humans.
Russian Scientist: ASF could become a human health risk
The world's highest incidence of Kaposi's sarcoma occurs in Sardinia (Reference) Is it possible that it is due to the fact that African Swine Fever Virus is endemic on the island? (Reference) One study suggests that the incidence of K.S. in northern Sardinia is highest in a countryside area where people have contact with animals. (Reference) Given the high prevalence of HHV-8,--the so-called K.S. herpes virus--in Sardinia (Reference) is it at all possible that HHV-8 may have been misclassified and actually is a human-adapted form of African Swine Fever Virus? (ASFV has been at least visually mistaken for another herpes virus, CMV, in the past.)
1. The African Swine Fever Vaccine for humans.
"African Swine fever is an endemic disease in sub-Saharan Africa and many other parts of the developing world. It is caused by the African Swine virus that primarily replicates in macrophages and monocytes leading to the impairment of the structure and function of the immune system of the infected organisms. Until now the African Swine epidemic continues to spread despite all efforts to contain it. Thus, there is an objective need for effective, safe and affordable preventive and therapeutic approaches, in particular for effective vaccines, to control and eventually eradicate this disease. Since the characteristic feature of the African Swine virus is to impair the immune system and to cause immune deficiencies in its hosts the development of vaccines and other therapeutic approaches against the African Swine virus has implications for other immune deficiencies or diseases. Several other viruses are also known to cause immunodeficiency-like syndromes in humans, including cytomegalovirus, Epstein Barr Virus and others. Moreover, a series of cases of so-called "idiopathic" immunodeficiencies have been documented that display CD4+T-lymphocytopenia with opportunistic infections, but show no evidence of HIV infection. Since antibodies for the African Swine virus have been detected in humans, the possibility of human infection with the African Swine virus exists and may thus far have escaped any systematic screening. Thus, any preventive and therapeutic approach to African Swine fever can have far-reaching implications to control immune deficiency conditions in humans."http://www.faqs.org/patents/app/20080207875
2. Evidence of African Swine Fever found in people with fevers.
Virus Identification in Unknown Tropical Febrile Illness Cases Using Deep Sequencing
Dengue virus is an emerging infectious agent that infects an estimated 50–100 million people annually worldwide, yet current diagnostic practices cannot detect an etiologic pathogen in ∼40% of dengue-like illnesses. Metagenomic approaches to pathogen detection, such as viral microarrays and deep sequencing, are promising tools to address emerging and non-diagnosable disease challenges. In this study, we used the Virochip microarray and deep sequencing to characterize the spectrum of viruses present in human sera from 123 Nicaraguan patients presenting with dengue-like symptoms but testing negative for dengue virus. We utilized a barcoding strategy to simultaneously deep sequence multiple serum specimens, generating on average over 1 million reads per sample. We then implemented a stepwise bioinformatic filtering pipeline to remove the majority of human and low-quality sequences to improve the speed and accuracy of subsequent unbiased database searches. By deep sequencing, we were able to detect virus sequence in 37% (45/123) of previously negative cases. These included 13 cases with Human Herpesvirus 6 sequences. Other samples contained sequences with similarity to sequences from viruses in the Herpesviridae, Flaviviridae, Circoviridae, Anelloviridae, Asfarviridae, and Parvoviridae families. In some cases, the putative viral sequences were virtually identical to known viruses, and in others they diverged, suggesting that they may derive from novel viruses. These results demonstrate the utility of unbiased metagenomic approaches in the detection of known and divergent viruses in the study of tropical febrile illness.
"The African swine fever (ASF) virus, may in the future become dangerous for humans, according to the head of the Russian Epidemiology Service, Chief State Sanitary Doctor Gennady Onishchenko, at the press-conference in St. Petersburg. According to him almost all viruses from time to time go through mutation processes which can give them some additional functions."
http://www.pigprogress.net/Health-Diseases/Outbreaks/2013/7/ASF-could-become-a-human-health-risk-1308047W/
4. Detection of Novel Sequences Related to African Swine Fever Virus in Human Serum and Sewage.
Loh J, Zhao G, Presti RM, Holtz LR, Finkbeiner SR, Droit L, Villasana Z, Todd C, Pipas JM, Calgua B, Girones R, Wang D, Virgin HW.
Departments of Pathology & Immunology and Molecular Microbiology, Department of Medicine and Department of Pediatrics, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri; Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Biology, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
"The family Asfarviridae contains only a single virus species, African swine fever virus (ASFV). ASFV is a viral agent with significant economic impact due to its devastating effects on populations of domesticated pigs during outbreaks, but has not been reported to infect humans. We report here the discovery of novel viral sequences in human serum and sewage which are clearly related to the Asfarvirus family, but highly divergent from ASFV. Detection of these sequences suggests that greater genetic diversity may exist among Asfarviruses than previously thought, and raises the possibility that human infection by Asfarviruses may occur."
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19812170?dopt=Abstract
Loh J, Zhao G, Presti RM, Holtz LR, Finkbeiner SR, Droit L, Villasana Z, Todd C, Pipas JM, Calgua B, Girones R, Wang D, Virgin HW.
Departments of Pathology & Immunology and Molecular Microbiology, Department of Medicine and Department of Pediatrics, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri; Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Biology, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
"The family Asfarviridae contains only a single virus species, African swine fever virus (ASFV). ASFV is a viral agent with significant economic impact due to its devastating effects on populations of domesticated pigs during outbreaks, but has not been reported to infect humans. We report here the discovery of novel viral sequences in human serum and sewage which are clearly related to the Asfarvirus family, but highly divergent from ASFV. Detection of these sequences suggests that greater genetic diversity may exist among Asfarviruses than previously thought, and raises the possibility that human infection by Asfarviruses may occur."
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19812170?dopt=Abstract
5. How the American science Robert Gallo may have stolen the African Swine Fever research of a Boston University scientist and may have given African swine Fever the fraudulent new name of "HHV-6."
"In August, 1986, John Beldekas was invited to go to the NCI and present his findings on the link between ASFV [African Swine Fever virus] and AIDS, which he did. Beldekas gave samples of all his lab work to Gallo. Later, the government asked Beldekas to turn over all his reagents and lab work to the government, which he did. Beldekas had found ASFV presence in nine of 21 AIDS patients using two standard procedures. At the meeting, Gallo was reported saying: “we know it is not ASFV.” How could Gallo know this as he hadn’t done any of his own tests to look for ASFV?
Two months later, Gallo published an article in Science (Oct 31, 1986) that he discovered a new possible co-factor in AIDS, a virus he called Human B Cell Lymphotropic Virus which he named HBLV. Like ASFV, HBLV infected B cells and also lived in macrophages. Did Gallo steal Beldekas’s ASF virus he found in AIDS patients and rename it HBLV? Later on, when Gallo found that HBLV could also infect other immune cells, he changed the name of HBLV to HHV-6. Eventually, Gallo identified his HBLV as the variant A strain of HHV-6 and called it a human herpesvirus."
--Mark Konlee
Two months later, Gallo published an article in Science (Oct 31, 1986) that he discovered a new possible co-factor in AIDS, a virus he called Human B Cell Lymphotropic Virus which he named HBLV. Like ASFV, HBLV infected B cells and also lived in macrophages. Did Gallo steal Beldekas’s ASF virus he found in AIDS patients and rename it HBLV? Later on, when Gallo found that HBLV could also infect other immune cells, he changed the name of HBLV to HHV-6. Eventually, Gallo identified his HBLV as the variant A strain of HHV-6 and called it a human herpesvirus."
--Mark Konlee
http://www.keephopealive.org/report10.html
6. The epidemiology that suggests that African Swine Fever in people in Sardinia is misidentified as HHV-8.
The world's highest incidence of Kaposi's sarcoma occurs in Sardinia (Reference) Is it possible that it is due to the fact that African Swine Fever Virus is endemic on the island? (Reference) One study suggests that the incidence of K.S. in northern Sardinia is highest in a countryside area where people have contact with animals. (Reference) Given the high prevalence of HHV-8,--the so-called K.S. herpes virus--in Sardinia (Reference) is it at all possible that HHV-8 may have been misclassified and actually is a human-adapted form of African Swine Fever Virus? (ASFV has been at least visually mistaken for another herpes virus, CMV, in the past.)
A number of experiments could be conducted to explore this hypothesis. In addition to a direct comparison of ASFV and HHV-8, pigs with African Swine Fever Virus could be tested for sequences of HHV-8. People with Kaposi's sarcoma could be tested for sequences of African Swine Fever, including new Asfaviridae sequences recently discovered. (Reference)
A comparison of the K.S. lesions in humans and ASFV lesions in pigs might be in order.Given that African Swine Fever is currently spreading in Russia and is now threatening Europe and China, (Reference) it would be useful to know whether people who are exposed to pigs with ASFV are at increased risk for HHV-8, Kaposi's sarcoma and the other pathologies associated with HHV-8. A study in sub-Saharan Africa where ASFV is endemic and HHV-8 is also endemic (Reference) might be useful. And areas of Russia where ASFV is spreading could be monitored closely for any signs of an increase of K.S. or HHV-8 infection and HHV-8 related pathologies.HHV-8 is an emerging health problem. HHV-8-associated K.S. is a significant problem in AIDS patients. It may also be the key to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. HHV-8 has been found in the cerebrospinal fluid of 50% of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome patients. (Reference) HHV-8 has been linked to type 2 diabetes. (Reference) HHV-8 has been detected in B-cells in Castleman's disease and primary effusion lymphoma. (Reference).
If HHV-8 is a form of ASFV, it is possible that pigs might constitute a useful animal model for the study of possible treatments for K.S. and other pathologies associated with HHV-8. And if there is any relationship between ASFV and HHV-8, people may have to be warned to take special precautions around pigs in areas where there are ASFV outbreaks. And countries where undercooked pork is consumed (like Ukraine where salo is a staple) may need to alert the public to cook all pork products thoroughly during ASFV epidemics.
7. ASF virus, adapted to grow in VERO cells, produces a strong cytopathic effect in human macrophages leading to cell destruction.
8. A sick child tests positive for African Swine Fever virus.
9. Newspaper publisher writes Truth to Power, a memoir about uncovering the African Swine Fever cover-up in America.
Truth to Power details the investigative reporting of a New York Native that reveals the Centers for Disease Control and the United States Department of Agriculture lied about the presence of African Swine Fever in pigs and people.
10. Journalist pens Pig: A Memoir, an Orwellian Novel warning about the consequences of an African Swine Fever Virus epidemic in humans.
The entire text of Pig: A Memoir can be read for free here.
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